A successful town centre sandwich shop owner has changed direction since he was forced to move out of his premises.

Tim Robinson, 27, built up his business, Crumbs, over nearly three years but had to shut up shop after the landlord decided not to renew the lease.

He has moved into new premises where he is producing fresh lunches for businesses, buffets for events and children’s meals for nurseries.

Chef Mr Robinson, who had previously worked for a number of hotels and for Antony Worrall Thompson’s catering company, opened his shop in November 2008.

He said it was upsetting to leave the Queen Victoria Street site which was serving between 1,200 and 1,500 customers per week.

He said: “We had a price agreed and then at the 11th hour, they sent an email saying they had made a decision not to renew the lease. We had 10 days to inform our customers and organise contractors to return the shop to how we found it.”

Mr Robinson added: “The worst thing was we’d built up the custom and people were coming in and asking why we were closing.”

Fortunately, Mr Robinson was already operating the www.crumbsreading.com website and was in the process of finding a property where food could be prepared.

He said: “It was always the plan to move into outside catering events, business and office lunches but we had to expand it a bit quicker than we had planned.”

Mr Robinson and his four full-time staff are now operating from their new kitchens in Prince of Wales Avenue, West Reading.

A job catering for the opening of the Decathlon sports store in Reading last year resulted in the firm also being asked to cater for the store launches in London, Belfast and Stockport.

A new area for Crumbs is supplying nurseries with breakfast and lunches for their young clients.

Mr Robinson said: “About five weeks ago we started supplying lunch to a nursery and we have just taken on another one. We have taken on a nutritionist part time to go through the menu for children which will be low in sugar and we use fresh local ingredients.”